WOODBRIDGE — The effort to spend nearly $1 million to dredge a recreational waterway in Woodbridge will move forward.
Prince William County leaders approved $750,000 in contingency funds to dredge the entrance to Neabsco Creek after the U.S. Coast Guard removed the navigational channel markers boaters used to enter the creek. The funds were approved as part of the fiscal year 2019 budget but will be pulled from a pot of money set aside a year ago.
A stakeholder meeting that included elected officials and members of the Coast Guard was held last Thursday to discuss the dredging. The meeting was closed to the press, according to Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi.
The Neabsco Creek dredging issue arose during the latter half of this year’s budget process, and local leaders had the money on hand to fund the work. After this round of dredging is complete, if history is a guide, the waterway will need it again within the next 10 years, due to the consistent flow of silt runoff from neighborhoods and new housing developments upstream from the Neabsco Creek.
The Coast Guard removed the navigational beacons at the entrance of Neabsco Creek where it meets the Potomac River when a survey crew team found the waterway to be too shallow for recreational boating use. Federal guidelines require at least a four-feet depth of water for boats to safely use the channel,
Survey crews returned to the waters April 17 and confirmed the original findings, noting the water depths to be sporadic at the creek entrance at the confluence of the Potomac River, ranging from about a foot and a half deep to about five feet deep in some places.
“We understand the issues facing the local marina owners and recreational boaters, but the safety of mariners is our first priority,” said Cdr. Charles Bright, chief of prevention at Coast Guard Sector Maryland-National Capital Region. “When we realized Neabsco Creek was no longer at the authorized depth, we had to act quickly to inform mariners to exercise caution when transiting in that area. That is why we converted the aids. We will continue to work with our partners and the community to ensure a safe and secure waterway.”
The Coast Guard says not only can boaters run aground in the shallow water, their boats, if traveling at high speed, could strike the creek bottom and the occupants of the craft could be ejected.
There are two marinas on the Neabsco Creek that provide boat slips, boat rentals, as well as a slip for a rescue boat operated by the OWL Volunteer Fire Department. The newly approved funds to pay for the dredging will help keep these businesses afloat.
“If we don’t step up to the plate to dredge the creek, all those businesses go away, and it will hurt boating industry which has been growing in Prince William County,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman, At-large Corey Stewart.
After this round of dredging is complete, if history is a guide, the waterway will need again possibly within the next 10 years, due to the consistent flow of silt upstream from the Neabsco Creek.
“There’s probably a few inches Dale City sitting at the bottom of the creek,” said Virginia State Senator Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax, Stafford, Woodbridge)
Prince William and Fairfax counties need to do a better job maintaining their stormwater retention ponds to prevent more silt from ending up in the creeks and rivers. He also said state legislators are working on a provision in the budget that would allow fees collected for boat purchases and watercraft fuel sales to be used to pay for dredging. Surovell also said he’s asked for an option from Virginia’s Attorney General, asking if localities could use monies collected for stormwater retention taxes and use those funds to pay for continued dredging of local waterways.
“This is a statewide problem we’re seeing with estuaries all along the Chesapeake Bay silting in,” he said.
